Crate.



PATENTED MAY 3, 1904.

A. V. THOMAS..

CRATE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 14,1903.

H0 MODEL.

folded to return empty.

Patented. May 3, 1904 PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT V. THOMAS, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS.

CRATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 759,202, dated May 3, 1904, Application filed July 14, 1903. Serial No. 165,497. (No modeLl To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT V. THOMAS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Crates; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has reference to crates, and has for its object a folding or knockdown crate for the shipping and return of crackers or fancy cakes contained in boxes or tins.

It has for its further object a crate for the shipping and return of boxes or tins containing crackers or cakes that shall be light and inexpensive to build, one which when received by a dealer may be folded and hung in a convenient place, and after the supply of crackers or cakes have been sold to replace the boxes or tins in the crate and return to the factory.

The crate will be better understood from the following description and drawings accompanying such description, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved crate elosed. Fig. 2 is a vertical crosssection of the crate on the line X X of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a view of the crate when folded and placed out of the way. Fig. 1 is an enlarged detail section showing the manner of locking the parts of the crate when containing boxes or tins. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of Fig. 4.

It is to be understood that this crate is designed to be used for shipping boxes or tins containing crackers or cakes from the factory to the dealer and while the boxes containing the crackers or cakes are being displayed to fold the crate and hang in aconvenient place and when he returns the boxes or tins to employ the original crate in which to return the boxes or tins to the factory. These crates are made of light inexpensive material and of different sizes. Other styles of crates and boxes have been made in which to ship fruit-baskets and the like from proprietors to dealers and Those crates are bulky and heavy, and it has been found that my crate has the advantage of being compact,

light, and a saving both in first cost of manufacture and. in freight. In Fig. 2 it is intended by the dotted lines to show a crate built to carry four boxes or tins.

The crate consists of the rectangular end portions formed of the bars 1 2 and 3 and 4E. The bars 1 2 are intended to be disposed vertically, and the bars 3 4 form top and bottom sills connecting the upper and lower ends of the bars 1 2 by pivot-bolts, as at 5, 6, and 7. The sills 3 and 4 are carried adjacent to the inner faces of the bars 1 2 for a purpose to be described, and the opposite end sills 3 and 4 are connected by the boards 8 and 9, the former to the lower face of the sills Sand the latter to the upper faces of the sills 1. The

sills 3, connectedby the board 8, togetherform a cover or opening by means of which access may be had to the body thereof for placing or removing boxes or tins containing cakes or crackers. The manner of securing the free ends of the sills 3 to the ends of the bars 2 is best seen in Figs. 4 and 5 by providing the longitudinal slots 10, extending ashort distance down into the bars and emerging into the enlarged countersunk portions 11, which form the offset 12. (See Fig. 4.) Carried in the sills 3, at or near their outer free ends, is shown the bolts 13, having the heads let adjacent to the outer faces thereof and on their opposite ends the thumb or winged nuts 15, When loeking the sills 3, (see Figs. 1 and 4,) the bolts 13 are dropped into the slots 10 of the bars 2, and by means of the thumb-nuts 15 the heads 14 of the bolts are drawn into the countersunk portions 11 of the slots and against the offset 12. By this means a positive lock is assured and the bolts prevented from becoming dislodged or the parts of the crate from separating. The bars 1 and 2 of the opposite ends of the crate are connected by the boards 16 and 17, forming side inelosures for the crate, as seen in Fig. 1.

Boxes or tins placed in the crate rest on the sills 4 and bear against the bars 1 and 2, and the top sills 3 when closed engage the upper tier of boxes or tins, which also engage the faces of the bars 1 and 2. and in this way there is little danger of the boxes or tins being dislodged.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

In a folding crate the combination of vertically-disposed bars, adapted to form uprights for the crate, said uprights having vertical slots formed at the upper ends thereof, and being further provided within said slots with enlarged countersunk portions, laterally disposed boards forming side inclosures for the crate, pairs of horizontally-disposed sill-forming members, one pair of said members pivotally connected with the lower portion of the uprights and having a board connecting the same, forming a bottom for the crate, and 

